Shakib is feeling the heat, for not being able to deliver his expected performance

CNI Desk: Is Shakib feeling the heat of not being able to deliver yet as for a cricketer who is not used to attending individual training sessions, his participation in the training session with his Gemcon Khulna teammates ahead of their crucial game against Beximco Dhaka on Wednesday at BCB Academy premises only hinted that possibility.

Bangladesh premier all-rounder Shakib failed to impress in the ongoing Bangabandhu T20 Cup’s league-phase as he completed eight matches without coming up with any superlative performances which is expected of him.

Shakib was the major talking point ahead of the competition considering he was making a comeback to competitive cricket following his one year ban which he received by  ICC (International Cricket Council) in 2019 for failing to report corrupt approaches.

The performance of Shakib in the first few games never raised any concerns considering he was making a comeback after a long lay-off.

Doubts were raised on his ability following a string of below-par performances though he looked economical with his bowling, giving away 172 runs in 30 overs with an economy rate of 5.70 while he picked  5 wickets so far in the competition.

Though it is too early to suggest that he is going through a rough patch but certainly things are not working the way he would have liked them to work especially if his batting is taken into consideration.

Shakib scored 82 runs in eight innings averaging 10.25 with a strike rate of 107.89 which included the highest of 10.25 runs.

“I don’t know when I will make a comeback,” Shakib was quoted after the game against Dhaka Dynamites on Thursday.

“I will try to do well and let see what happens,” he said.

 

According to team insiders, Shakib is quite worried about his own form and expressed his disappointment for not being able to make a mark so far in the competition.

“If you take his (Shakib) batting into consideration, certainly he is not being able to perform. He is trying, no doubt, because I am watching him from close quarters and he is trying a lot,” said Gemcon Head Coach Mizanur Rahman.

“When we see a player going through such a period he tries to do a lot of thing but in his case he is not ready to do that but just wants to score. I think he is going through a rough phase,” he added.

Shakib resumed his cricketing activities from September 5 at Bangladesh Krira Shikkha Protisthan (BKSP).

Shakib returned home from the USA on September 2 after five and a half months and trained under the watchful eyes of two of his childhood coaches Nazmul Abedin Fahim and Mohammad Salahuddin.

Ahead of the tournament, during the first day of his practice session Shakib looked to be in a destructive mood while batting as he preferred to go all out against all the pacers he faced in the nets which included Shafiul Islam, Al Amin Hossain, Hasan Mahmud and Mehedi Hasan Rana.

Shakib faced 54 deliveries in the nets and apart from the last ball, he preferred to smack all the deliveries out of the ground whether they bowled short balls or yorker or tried to deceive him with fuller length deliveries or other variations. It looked as if Shakib was in a murderous mood in the nets playing those drives, pulls and cuts along with trying to go over the top stepping out without hesitation and it never looked that he was away from cricket for one year.

The batting session only suggested that he was getting prepared mentally keeping in mind the requirements of T20 where there is hardly any time to relax with the willow but after coming from a long lay-off usually a cricketer needs time to settle down before launching himself.

“There is a fine line between confidence, over confidence and low in confidence and if you take his first individual practice session into consideration, you will see that he was over confident. Now a man who is not used to taking part in individual training session, if you suddenly see him taking part in individual practices this only suggests that he is lacking confidence somewhere,” said  an cricket analyst after having a close look at Shakib’s development.